Yu-Gi-Oh! Online
Overview Yu-Gi-Oh! Online is an online PC game released in December 2004 by Konami,based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. It was first distributed with the February 2005 issue of the U.S. Shonen Jump. In the game, players can chat, duel, and trade cards with each other. A major update called "Duel Evolution" was recently released that changed many aspects of the game. Players now have their own avatars and can explore portions of Domino City from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series and the Duel Academy from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series. The duelling screen and the deck editor have also been redesigned and improved. System Requirements OS: Windows 2000/XP CPU: Pentium III 600 and above RAM: 256 MB or more Hard Drive: 2.0 GB or more free space Video Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible Internet Connection: 256 kbit/s or faster Beta Stages The original beta version of the game was free from December 2004 to March 31, 2005. The subscription process was finalized April 11, 2005. During the beta test, testers started with a 40 card Yu-Gi-Oh! deck to duel other players with. On December 14, 2006 at 11:00 PM EST, the Beta of Yu-Gi-Oh! Online Duel Evolution was launched. The Beta was plagued by glitches and errors. The higher system requirements of the Duel Evolution software caused players to endure installations problems and lag times. It's recommended players ensure their hardware meets minimum requirements and have the latest video card driver installed for optimized function of the game. A combination of high server traffic and hardware slow-downs has also caused players to be disconnected without warning from the game. All data was retained during beta testing, but after beta testing all player data was reset to what it was before beta testing. The beta testing ended 1/9/2007. Cards Players duel using cards, in the same way as in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. Each player starts with a 42-card starter deck. After that, players need to duel to get more cards. Whenever a single game (1 duel) is played, both players get 1 card from a card pack of their choice. Whenever a match game (2 or 3 duels, first to win twice wins) is played, both players get 3 cards from a card pack of their choice. There has been 44 packs released to date with additional packs being released every two weeks. What card packs a player can choose is based on what packs are currently available, and how many times the player has played (more duels means more card packs the player can choose from). Cards can also be obtained through trading (only if the player has played 36 or more duels) or exchanging Mileage. Mileage is earned in small amounts for claiming duelpass codes, and can be used to buy some of the game's more sought-after cards (such as Mirror Force, and Magic Cylinder). Since the update to Duel Evolution, mileage exchange is being done in the form of a Duel Shop, where packs, single cards and custom parts for your avatar can be purchased. Buying packs through these stores gives you 5 random cards from that pack then the usual 1 or 3. Ranking There are 30 player levels, Level 1 through 30. Once a player has played at least 36 duels, he or she can advance beyond level 1, and must to move from the beginner's lobby to the other lobbies where all players level 2 and above play. The player's level is decided by their score. Each time a player wins a duel, that player's score increases, and whenever a player loses a duel, their score decreases. The amount of points received or deducted depends on the player's level and the opponent's level. For example, a level 2 player winning from a level 5 player would gain more points than a level 6 player winning from a level 3 player. Payment To duel, players must spend Duelpass Points (DP). It costs 1 DP for 1 duel. Duelpass points are obtained by purchasing Duelpasses. Purchasing a Duelpass gains the player 30 Duelpass Points, 1 card in the game, and 1 Mileage (that players can exchange for cards). Ten Duelpass points are given for free to every account when they are first created. There are currently three types of Duelpasses. Duelpass Card The Duelpass card is a card sold at retail stores that has a code printed on it under a silver covering. This code is worth 1 Duelpass. The Yu-Gi-Oh! card gained from this type of Duelpass is stated on the Duelpass card. The Duelpass card is not sold in the United States. Players in the United States must get duelpasses from one of the other methods or buy these cards from a third party. Because only the code is needed, and not the card, this type of duelpass is often available on ebay with no shipping cost. Duelpass 150 This is an online purchase that is equivalent to 5 Duelpasses (150 Duelpass points). The 5 cards gained from this type of duelpass are chosen randomly from a set. At one point, sale of the Duelpass 150 was suspended in the United States due to fraud, but since the release of Duel Evolution, the Duelpass 150 is available in the United States again. USB Duelpass Key The USB Duelpass Key is equivalent to 3 Duelpasses (90 Duelpass points). It is a USB device that is sold in retail stores in the United States, such as Toys 'R' Us and Target. It works like a standard USB flash drive, except it only contains the information necessary to transfer game credits to your account. A CD-ROM with the full version of the game is included in the packaging for the USB Duelpass Key. The flashdrive itself has only 128K or so of memory, unusable for anything but the duel pass credits. The 3 cards gained from this type of duelpass are chosen randomly from a set. The USB Duelpass Key is sold only in the United States and Mexico. Players in other locations must get duelpasses from one of the other methods or buy them from a third party. Other Versions 'Duel Monsters Advanced -' A free pixelated manual play version of the card game hosted as a BYOND game. 'Duel Monsters Online -' A free pixelated version of the Yu-Gi-oh! Online Duel Evolution hosted as a BYOND game. 'Kaiba Corporation Virtual Duel System -' A free manual play flash version with the same card graphics.